Freight-container car



June 3, 1930. E. s. CLARKSON FREIGHT CONTAINER CAR Filed March 5, 1929Patented June 3, 1930 UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE EDWIN S. CLARKSON, OFWASHINGTON, DISTRICT OF COLUMBIA, ASSIGNOR TO THE L. C. L. CORPORATION,A QORPOR-ATION OF DELAWARE FREIGHT-CONTAINER CAR A Application filedMarch 5, 1929. Serial No. 344,516.

Compartment or container freight cars are now in successful use byrailroads of the type disclosed in the patents of Alfred H. Smith,amongwhich may be noted No. 1,407,593 of February 21, 1922, but in mostof these cases it is necessary to employ a crane to lift the containersto" and from the cars, and such cranes arenot .at small stations. TheMc- Gune Patent No. 1,040,229 of October 1, 1912, provides a sectionalor container car, the car having drop sides in front of each container,but this leaves the containers free to be opened while they are onthecar.

Prior to the Smith and McCune container cars the methods in handlingmerchandise freight have not been changed to any marked degree, in thatpackages of various kinds,

' shapes, and sizes have been tendered at the railroad platform, takenby railroad labor after unloading from the shippers truck, and eitherdirectly loaded into a car, or, more frequently, placed upon the freighthouse floor until the car could be loaded, then trucked to the car forrelatively long distances and stowed in the car. Due to the usuallimitations in available extra space, particularly at larger terminals,in many instances the freight must be loaded currently as offered intothe car which often resulted in an ill-assorted and badly loaded car,because it was'not possible to reassort and properly load the freight tothe best advantage, which resulted in transporting very lightly loadedcars and a duplication of service.

The container cars obviated these difiicul-" ties and objections. Theuse of a drop side container car provided for the unloading of thecontainers from the car at stations not provided with a crane, but thisdrop side does not prevent the containers from being pilfered while onthe car or platform.

The object of my invention is to provide a freight container havingmeans that will prevent the lock of the container door being operated solong as the container rests on the car, or other support, and which willabsolutely do away with an opportunity for pilferingwhether the sideofthe car is up .or down, therefore the freight in the container issecure against pilfering and the container can be rolled or trucked offthe car at small -or large stations, deposited on the platform,

the parts, and combination of parts hereinafter pointed out.

In the drawings:

Figure 1 is a side elevation of a portion of a drop side car with acontainer on the car, one of the drop sides being in closed position,while the drop side in front of the container is shown as open ordropped, a portion of the container being shown in section.

Figure 2 is a detail sectional view.

The reference numeral 3 designatesa car of any approved type, having endwalls 4. The sides of the car are provided with a number of doors 5 hungon hinges 6 and provided with lock bolts 7 which engage a rigid part 8of the car to hold the doors in upright position. If desired additionalmeans may be employed to insure holding the doors in closed position,but'this does not form a part of my invention. When it is desired toload or unload a container from acar, the door 5 in front of thecontainer is dropped as shown to the right in Figure 1. Inasmuch asthese doors 5 may readily be lowered, it is necessary to provide a lockto prevent the opening of the container doors 8 of the container 9, andit is also necessary that such lock will be equally effective while thecontainer is resting upon a station platform, truck body, or othersupport, all of which involves my invention.

Such locking means have been provided for freight containers withoutlegs in theinvention of Graham C. Woodrufi', but I believe L lo ofconstruction shown in the drawings as these will probably be changed inactual manufacture, hence the construction illustrated is selectedmerely for the purposes of illustrating my invention.

The container 9vis provided with supporting legs or feet 10, at leastone of which should be of box like construction, that is to say,provided with four sides and open at top and bottom as clearly shown inthe drawing, the upper end opening into the space between the floor11,.and the bottom 12 of the walls of the container.. I

Suitable brackets 13 are secured to the container structure in which ismounted a rod 14 freely slidable therein, one'end of which constitutes alatch adapted to engage a re- (fess-I in the lower end of the door bolt16, which door bolt is operated by means of the handle 17 bonnected tothe link 18 to which one end of the-door bolt 16 is pivotally attached.Another door bolt 18 is also pivot- .ally attached to the link 18, fromwhich it will be seen that so long as the latch 14 is in the recess ofthe door bolt 16 it is impossible to move the door bolts to unlockedposition.

Within the leg 10, and surrounded by the leg is a weight 19, which ispivotally suspended from one arm 20 of the bell crank lever, said leverbeing pivoted at 21 'to the container structure. The other arm 22 of thebell crank lever is pivotally connected to the outer end of the latchbolt 14, there being a compensating slot 23 in the lever arm 22:

When. the container is elevated from the support upon-which it has beenresting, the

- the legs come in contact with the support and the we ght 19 isthus'pushed up into the leg 10 thereby rocking the bell crank lever,which, in turn, slides the latch 14 into the recess 15 of the door bolt16 as shown in Figure 1.

Fromthe above it will be seen that irrespective of any-abutment in frontof the container door, the door cannot be unlocked so long as the legsof the container rest upon a support, and the container is proof againstpilfering, therefore these containers may safely be unloaded at astation day ornight and left without guard as the freight is as safe,perhaps safer, than it would be if stored,

- in the .station freight house.

Another ad- 1' vantage is that a shipper may safely leave his packedcontainers on a station platform to be picked up by a car sometimeduring the day or night.

From the above it will be seen that according to my invention the doorsof a container cannot be opened so longas the legs of the container restupon a support. a

One of the advantages of providing legs on containers is that thecontainer body is spaced from the platform which permits of running alift truck under the container for the purpose of moving it from placeto place.

What I claim is:

1. In combination, a support, a plurality of freight containers havinglegs removably mounted on said support, a door in each container, alocking bolt for each door, and

means carried by the container holding the door bolts against operationso long as the legs of the container rest on the support.

2. In combination, a support, drop sides for said support, a pluralityof containers removably mounted on said support, legs secured to thecontainer, a door for the container, a locking bolt for each door, andmeans carried by the container holding the door bolts against movementso long as the" container legs rest on the support.

3. In combination with a container having.

legs, a door, and a door bolt, means carried by the container whichautomatically locks the door bolts against operation by resting thelegs-on a support.

4. In combination with a container having legs, a door, and a door bolt,means carried by the container which automatically locks the door boltsagainst operation by resting the legs on a support, and whichautomatically releases the door bolt for operation when the legs leavethe support.

5. In combination with a freight container having legs, a door, and adoor bolt, a latch adapted to engage the door bolt against operation solong as the container legs are in contact with a support, means withinone of the legs of the containerto operatesaid latch, said means beingoperated by contact with a supportwhen the container is placed on thesupport.

6. In combination with a freight container having legs, a door, and adoor bolt, a latch adapted to engage the door bolt against operation solong as the container legs are in contact with asupport,'means withinone of the legs of the container to operate said latch. said means beingoperated by contact with a support when the container is placed on thesupport, said means being automatically operated to release said latchengagement with the door bolt when the legs leave the support.

7. In combination with a freight container having legs, a door. and adoor bolt, a latch adapted to have locking engagement with the door boltand hold it against operation so long as the legs of the container restupon a support, means within one of the container legs andextendingbelow the bottom edge of the leg when the container iselevated, said means being operated to move andhold the said latch inlocking engagement with the door bolt when and so long as the legs restupon a support.

8. In combination with a freight container having legs, a door, and adoor bolt of a latch bar carried by the container and adapted to haveinterlocking engagement with the door bolt and hold it against operationso long as the container legs rest on a support, a movable element inone of the container legs proj ecting. when the legs are not on asupport, below the lower end of the leg, a bell crank connection betweensaid movable member and the said latch. whereby when the container legcontacts with a support, the movable element moves upward within theleg, operates the bell crank lever to move the latch into engagementwith the door bolt and holds the door bolt against operation so long asthe leg rests upon the support.

9. In combination with a freight container having legs, a door, andadoor bolt of a latch bar carried by the container and adapted to haveinterlocking engagement with the door bolt and hold it against operationso long as the container legs rest on a support, a mov-' able welghtedelement in one of the container legs projecting, when the legs are noton a support, below the lower end of the le", a bell crank connectionbetween said movable member and the said latch, whereby when thecontainer leg contacts with a support, the movable weighted elementmoves upward within the leg, operates the bell crank lever to move thelatch into engagement with the door bolt and holds the door bolt againstoperation so long as the leg rests upon the support.

In testimony whereof I afiizi my signature.

EDWIN S. CLARKSON.

